Reflection #6: Web Series: Audience

I personally like High Maintenance because of the genre and simple plot for each episode. Besides the great quality, actors and performance, the approach for the main subject, weed, would usually associates with negative kind of actions but in this case it shows the other side of the characters when the dealer comes around. There is more than just them buying and consuming weed. Most of the characters has strong characteristic which capture the audience attention immediately. These characters have a story to tell and the reason why there are fans for this series is because each episode there is someone out there who can really relate to one of the characters. The characteristic for the protagonist differs from his outlook. He does gives the drug dealer vibe but besides selling weed to them he provides a listening ear to these characters. There is a twist in the character and relating this concept to the reading on Roald Dahl, “Lamb to the Slaughter”, the first encounter the audience sees that character we would have this stereotype mind-set that this character will act in this particular manner instead there is more than the appearance offer. The drug dealer is someone who is observant and good-hearted. Audience are attracted to these characters especially when your appearance does not reveal who you truly are. Readings from “Web Series: Four things…” said that “the web should be the place to tell stories and present characters that haven’t been seen”. High Maintenance has characters and storyline that are not your typical kind of scenes you would expect, previously mentioned about the main subject, weed, which does not showcase people getting high and etc.

Gathering information from these week readings, the success to a web series is to have a unique topic that caters to a certain audience. Audience is the key for web series to sustain. Another reason why High Maintenance is a success it’s because the way they created each episode can be consume on its own or continuously which can be catered to anyone. If that particular episode attracts you then you can watch it without knowing what the previous episode was about.

Some suggestions for other platforms for this web series would be creating a website that states the problems/ issues that the characters are facing or a game where the drug dealer is the main player encountering the characters in NYC. It can also be an interactive narrative similar to Depression Quest where audience can experience the problems the characters are facing. Overall, if you target the right audience with a distinctive topic there is a possibility that your web series may succeed.

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